Wireless Broadband Security. Lesson Learned & Questions Asked

Sorry if this is a little OT.

I live in the remote, quiet countryside. There are only two, maybe
three neighbours within range of my wireless router. Because of that
I never thought, before tonight, that I would have to encrypt my wifi
network. But tonight I found it was being used by someone outwith my
household. There were no cars around anywhere so I assume it was a
neighbour or their kids or something.

Firstly I noticed a significant drop in bandwidth. Really slow pages
loading. Then I noticed the lights on my router were flashing madly
when I wasn't downloading anything, and no other machine in my house
was switched on. This went on for a long time. I checked my daily
usage online with my ISP and found I had used almost 300 Megs since
this morning, although all I have done today was check some emails.
The only thing making me doubt my sanity is that my neighbours have
their own broadband, so why would they use mine?

Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
has been accessing my wireless broadband?

I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA

Travec

"Travec The Dacian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
> key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
> activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
> downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
> I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
> ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
> has been accessing my wireless broadband?
>
> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA

They can pick up your network without having a wireless network of their own
which may explain why you found no others. Al they need is a wireless
dongle or something like that to pick up local networks.

> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA
>
> Travec

Just put it down to experience. You have learnt a valuable lesson about
security. They may not know they were using your network.

Dave

gort wrote:

>
>> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA
>>
>> Travec
>
>Just put it down to experience. You have learnt a valuable lesson about
>security. They may not know they were using your network.
>

I'd agree with this; very little good will come from trying to chase
the culprits.

There's a thread on this ng from two days ago entitled "question about
wifi security" which looks at the things that can be done to enhance
wifi security, the OP might like to consult that.

It just goes to show that even in the country, with few neighbours,
wifi security is a good thing.

"Travec The Dacian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sorry if this is a little OT.
>
> I live in the remote, quiet countryside. There are only two, maybe
> three neighbours within range of my wireless router. Because of that
> I never thought, before tonight, that I would have to encrypt my wifi
> network. But tonight I found it was being used by someone outwith my
> household. There were no cars around anywhere so I assume it was a
> neighbour or their kids or something.
>
> Firstly I noticed a significant drop in bandwidth. Really slow pages
> loading. Then I noticed the lights on my router were flashing madly
> when I wasn't downloading anything, and no other machine in my house
> was switched on. This went on for a long time. I checked my daily
> usage online with my ISP and found I had used almost 300 Megs since
> this morning, although all I have done today was check some emails.
> The only thing making me doubt my sanity is that my neighbours have
> their own broadband, so why would they use mine?

In my household I set up a "curfew" on the wireless router so that the kids
stop using the internet at midnight (or whatever other time seems sensible)
and go to bed. There have been times when they have evaded this curfew by
connecting to whatever wireless network is in range in our road, and it
seems that many people don't bother with security settings. If kids like
mine were connecting to your network they would be downloading huge
quantities of stuff, possibly copyright material

>
> Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
> key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
> activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
> downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
> I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
> ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
> has been accessing my wireless broadband?

Depends on your router. Explore all the settings. You might find a menu
called "DCHP Client List" or "Connected Devices" or something similar, which
lists all the computers that your router has allocated an IP address to.

If the names of the machines seem unfamiliar, eg "IansComputer" when there
is no Ian in your household, you have probably found the culprit.

"Travec The Dacian" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Sorry if this is a little OT.
>
> I live in the remote, quiet countryside. There are only two, maybe
> three neighbours within range of my wireless router. Because of that
> I never thought, before tonight, that I would have to encrypt my wifi
> network. But tonight I found it was being used by someone outwith my
> household. There were no cars around anywhere so I assume it was a
> neighbour or their kids or something.
>
> Firstly I noticed a significant drop in bandwidth. Really slow pages
> loading. Then I noticed the lights on my router were flashing madly
> when I wasn't downloading anything, and no other machine in my house
> was switched on. This went on for a long time. I checked my daily
> usage online with my ISP and found I had used almost 300 Megs since
> this morning, although all I have done today was check some emails.
> The only thing making me doubt my sanity is that my neighbours have
> their own broadband, so why would they use mine?
>
> Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
> key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
> activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
> downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
> I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
> ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
> has been accessing my wireless broadband?
>
> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA
>
> Travec

I inadvertantly logged on to a neighbours network while setting up a new PC
with a wireless card - his network is open and my PC logged on by default.
A quick look at his router log showed that three of my machines had been
there at some time or the other and several others as well. He seemed quite
surprised but pleased when I told him that his network was wide open. A
case of a little knowledge and it working straight out of the box. The
network is now secure!

Peter

> Sorry if this is a little OT.

Not OT at all.

> I live in the remote, quiet countryside. There are only two, maybe
> three neighbours within range of my wireless router. Because of that
> I never thought, before tonight, that I would have to encrypt my wifi
> network. But tonight I found it was being used by someone outwith my
> household. There were no cars around anywhere so I assume it was a
> neighbour or their kids or something.
>
> Firstly I noticed a significant drop in bandwidth. Really slow pages
> loading. Then I noticed the lights on my router were flashing madly
> when I wasn't downloading anything, and no other machine in my house
> was switched on. This went on for a long time. I checked my daily
> usage online with my ISP and found I had used almost 300 Megs since
> this morning, although all I have done today was check some emails.
> The only thing making me doubt my sanity is that my neighbours have
> their own broadband, so why would they use mine?

I wonder if your neighbour even knew what they were doing? IMEI people are
very blasé about security, wireless or otherwise, so it is often cock-up
rather than conspiracy. Even though, like you, live in a relatively
unpopulated area, I would be very wary of using a wireless network even if
you think it is secure. Even the best security available to home users is
not very secure at all so I use wires only. Just as an experiment I took my
laptop into a local town last week and was astonished by the number of wide
open networks there were.

> Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
> key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
> activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
> downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
> I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
> ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
> has been accessing my wireless broadband?
>
> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA

Netstumbler gives a good basic idea and should be quite adequate for your
needs. Try listening for your neighbours network for a day or two.

Peter Crosland

In article <s0vTg.52343$(E-Mail Removed) >,
"Peter Andrews" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
> I inadvertantly logged on to a neighbours network while setting up a new PC
> with a wireless card - his network is open and my PC logged on by default.
> A quick look at his router log showed that three of my machines had been
> there at some time or the other and several others as well. He seemed quite
> surprised but pleased when I told him that his network was wide open. A
> case of a little knowledge and it working straight out of the box. The
> network is now secure!

I got a knock on the door from my neighbour a couple of years ago,
apologising for using my WiFi. He looked rather puzzled when I said
I didn't have any WiFi. Apparently, he was downloading a CD image,
and it came down much faster than he expected. Went upstairs to look
at his router, and it was off as something had knocked the plug out
of the wall. Knowing that I was also into computers, he assumed he
was going out through my WiFi, but having flood-wired the house with
Cat 5 some years before, I had no need of WiFi.

I then investigated with a laptop. I could see about 3 WiFi networks,
and one was wide open. I could only use it if I pressed the laptop
hard up against a rear upstairs window. A traceroute showed it was
on NTL.

--
Andrew Gabriel

"Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:451e90ee$0$24510$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Sorry if this is a little OT.
>
> Not OT at all.
>
>> I live in the remote, quiet countryside. There are only two, maybe
>> three neighbours within range of my wireless router. Because of that
>> I never thought, before tonight, that I would have to encrypt my wifi
>> network. But tonight I found it was being used by someone outwith my
>> household. There were no cars around anywhere so I assume it was a
>> neighbour or their kids or something.
>>
>> Firstly I noticed a significant drop in bandwidth. Really slow pages
>> loading. Then I noticed the lights on my router were flashing madly
>> when I wasn't downloading anything, and no other machine in my house
>> was switched on. This went on for a long time. I checked my daily
>> usage online with my ISP and found I had used almost 300 Megs since
>> this morning, although all I have done today was check some emails.
>> The only thing making me doubt my sanity is that my neighbours have
>> their own broadband, so why would they use mine?
>
> I wonder if your neighbour even knew what they were doing? IMEI people are
> very blasé about security, wireless or otherwise, so it is often cock-up
> rather than conspiracy. Even though, like you, live in a relatively
> unpopulated area, I would be very wary of using a wireless network even if
> you think it is secure. Even the best security available to home users is
> not very secure at all so I use wires only. Just as an experiment I took
> my laptop into a local town last week and was astonished by the number of
> wide open networks there were.
>
>> Okay, lesson learned either way. I have now put a 128-bit encryption
>> key on my network. As soon as I did that, all the router light
>> activity ceased. But now I want to catch the cheeky buggers. I
>> downloaded a program called Netstumbler to my laptop, but by the time
>> I got it working it only showed my own, newly-encrypted network. Any
>> ideas as to how I can find out for sure which neighbouring household
>> has been accessing my wireless broadband?
>>
>> I want to be discrete. No diplomatic incidents. TIA
>
> Netstumbler gives a good basic idea and should be quite adequate for your
> needs. Try listening for your neighbours network for a day or two.
>
> Peter Crosland
>
OMG another clueless pensioner type! You don't seem to know the first thing
about WPA or WPA2, go and Google, then come back when you do.

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 21:28:11 +0100, "Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Peter Crosland" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:451e90ee$0$24510$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>
>OMG another clueless pensioner type! You don't seem to know the first thing
>about WPA or WPA2, go and Google, then come back when you do.

What have you got against pensioners
I imagine the vast majority of us are not half as clueless as you seem
to be
>